Page 57 of Detour

Coty follows, albeit slower from needing to adjust himself, and takes my hand.

And I allow it.

For now.

Hand-in-hand, we wander over to the edge of the cliff and gaze out at the cityscape before us. I watch, mesmerized, as a plane lands in the distance. I can’t help but notice how small it all seems.

“How did you find this place?”

Coty swings his head to me.

“Are you sure you want to know?” He squeezes my hand, laughing lightly.

I swear my lips scrunch on their own.

Coty releases my hand, and slipping under the warm hoodie, his fingers trail my spine. I shiver from the skin-to-skin contact.

I realize then that I couldn’t keep the guy off my backbone if I tried.

He turns his head forward again. “No, I found it once on a solo ride. I come out here when I need space. Living with the others is cool but sometimes I need to get away. You know?”

“The need to get away?” I can’t help the sneer in my words. “Yeah, I do know. With my childhood, getting away is a luxury you pray for daily. Moving out was me getting away. And staying away.” Dropping my gaze to my shoes, I quietly add, “Hopefully.”

Coty’s hand stills. “Why do you say that?”

Kicking a stray rock over the ledge, I listen for its descent before looking over to Coty whose sole focus is on me.

“I just can’t go back to my mom’s. I won’t.”

Something crosses his features but disappears before I can ask about it.

“Do you still see her?”

“No. We…uh,” I huff out a breath, “have an agreement.” Of sorts. “When I moved out, we made a deal so she would leave me alone.”

Coty’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “How’s that working out?”

Turning back to the lit-up town, I tell him, “Not great. She’s up to her old tricks but nothing I can’t handle.”

“What tricks are those exactly? Should I be worried?”

My head snaps over to him and I almost choke from what I see there.

I twist, making his hand fall from my shirt. Coty scowls.

“My problems stay my problems. I promise they won’t make their way next door or to any of my other neighbors.”

I throw my hands up, smirking ruefully.

Rianne will never catch sight of Coty if I can help it. She has a knack for taking anything good, anything untainted, and twisting it into something ugly with her mental gauntlet. Battering it until nearly unrecognizable. Trying to make anyone feel as lonely and scared on the outside as she does on the inside. Sinking her claws into any fresh meat she can until their need for self-preservation eventually kicks in and they can escape. I refuse to let my mother’s manipulation reach Coty. Whatever he may be to me, he’ll never be hers to toy with.

Coty catches me as I pass to the bike but I stand firm at arm’s length. “What happened? Where’d you go? You’re back to throwing this neighbor shit at me when we just…” A look over his shoulder, he says, “Angela-”

“You do know you’re my neighbor, right? You and Beckett and Marc. You guys are just my neighbors.”

“Bullshit,” Coty shoots back. “That didn’t feel very neighborly to me.” He jerks his thumb behind him.

I, however, avoid looking at the bike at all costs. It’s too soon. Instead, I shrug him off. “Well, the others haven’t asked me to ride with them yet.”